What Was Owed
by Hickumu
Summary: The war against Giygas is over. The world is safe. Now all that's left for Ness to do is walk Paula safely home again. He takes them to Fourside, first, for a stop by the department store. Partly to help Paula get over some lingering fears, and partly to pick up something as a surprise for her. Even with how far they've come, Ness hasn't forgotten where they started.


Paula hadn't had time to express her disappointment when Ness began spinning them in the dizzying circle of a Teleportation Beta. She'd asked for Ness to walk her home, and she had wanted to walk. It wasn't far from Saturn Valley to Threed, and while it was a long way from Threed back to Twoside…she wouldn't have minded. They had plenty of food, and the way was safe now.

She hadn't wanted to go home right away, after all.

When Paula opened her eyes, however, she saw that she wasn't home. All around her stretched the impossibly towering skyscrapers of…

"Fourside?" she asked. "Ness, what are we doing here?"

"I forgot something," said Ness, in a deliberately casual tone of voice that she knew very well by now. The fact that he wasn't looking her in the eye only deepened Paula's suspicions that he was hiding something. Ness was a terrible liar by nature, and she'd known him too long by now. "Something I have to pick up. Here in Fourside. Is that okay?"

"I…guess so."

He didn't let go of her hand, and she didn't let go of his. Paula let him lead the way – the twisting streets here had always confused her, and she'd had less time when they'd come here to just look around and explore.

The memory of her imprisonment sent an involuntary little shiver down Paula's spine. Ness felt it, looking back at her with an expression of faint concern. "You okay? Are you cold?"

"No. I'm all right." Between the sun shining down and the heat from the exhaust of taxi's driving by, she was actually quite warm. They just hadn't been back to Fourside since the first time, except to find the Sanctuary here, and she'd been glad of that. She didn't like it here, and she couldn't help but flinch, reflexively reaching for her frying pan, every time a taxi drove by or a stumbling businessman looked at them funny.

Since he was looking at her, however, Paula ventured: "Ness…you know I'm going to have to go home eventually, right? We both are."

He had gone back to looking at the path ahead, so she couldn't see the look on his face. She thought she heard a smile in his voice, however. "Yeah. I guess the big adventure's over, huh? But…that's okay."

Paula was surprised. "It is?" she asked, before she could stop itself. "I mean, of course it is, Ness. I just thought…"

"Don't get me wrong. I'm going to miss camping out with you guys. But it's not like we'll never see each other again, right? Snow Wood might be kind of a pain to teleport to, but I can make it. I don't need to be able to see Dalaam to jump there. And you're just a bike ride away! I can come see you guys any time we want. And then we can go wherever we want."

Ness looked back at her, and she saw reflected in his eyes and his smile all the infinite possibilities of the future.

At least for a moment. And then he hesitated, faltering just a bit. "…I mean, if you want to," he mumbled, tugging his cap a little further down over his face and looking back ahead once more.

Paula didn't even hesitate. "I want to, Ness," she said, squeezing his hand so he knew she meant it. "I hope I can always be friends with you."

He held her hand tightly, the way he first had on the Runaway Five's bus as it sped away from Threed. "…me, too, Paula. So I guess we're on the same page! And we're also here."

He stopped, and stared up at the building before them. Paula stopped, and looked up at it, too.

It felt like her heart stopped when she realized they were standing in front of the Fourside Department Store. Memories flashed through her head – of darkness falling, a rush of movement, inhuman hands pulling her away, her own voice screaming…

"W-Why don't I wait out here, Ness? If you just need to pick up something, it shouldn't take very long, right? Besides, it's really nice outside. And maybe I should look out for taxis."

Just as she knew Ness too well to be entirely fooled whenever he tried any attempt at deception, Ness knew her too well to miss the way her voice wavered, or the way she was babbling. Paula knew she was babbling, but she somehow couldn't stop. She felt her legs shaking just from the thought of going back in there. She knew it was irrational and silly, that the world was safe now, that all of Giygas' minions had gone away with him.

The fear still didn't go away, coupled with shame at herself for being so…_weak_. She'd stood with the four of them against Giygas, in all his madness and power. Why did this suddenly seem so awful?

"Hey," said Ness gently, moving around to her front and leaning down to try and catch her eye. Paula started slightly to suddenly see him there. "It's okay. I'll protect you. Whatever happens, whatever bad guys are waiting here or anywhere else…I'm not going to let anyone take you away ever again."

The world should have been safe, now. Paula could see, however, that Ness was as uncertain about that fact as she was. It had been a lifetime ago that they'd been able to just walk down the street without being attacked, after all. It didn't seem real, that the world was safe now.

She also realized, however, that Ness would protect her. He meant what he said with everything he had. Furthermore, she knew he really was that strong, now. The need for his power might have faded, but the power itself hadn't. Ness still had all the energies of the world to call on if the need arose, and she saw in his eyes that he would call down every ounce of his fury on anything that tried to hurt her ever again.

There and then, standing outside the Fourside department Store with adults shuffling around them, no one else noticing them at all and the world turning around them and Ness' hand in hers'…Paula finally felt safe.

"Okay?" asked Ness, smiling his familiar broad, happy grin, as he saw her relax.

"…okay," said Paula, smiling back.

She followed him inside, the doors sliding open to admit them and then sliding closed behind them. Just like the last time she had been in here, it was brightly lit and full of people. There was no sign of anything evil, and no sign that anything evil had ever been here.

All the same, she and Ness held their breaths as they crossed the lobby floor, until they reached the spot, the very spot, where the lights had gone out and she'd been taken from their sides before any of them could have done anything about it. They paused just before it, their eyes on that spot.

Then, with some ceremony, they crossed the empty bit of tiled floor together.

Absolutely nothing happened. They both let out their breaths in a long sigh. Then Paula laughed, relief bubbling up in her chest until she couldn't help but give voice to it. Ness laughed with her. It started off low, both of them trying to stifle their relief and happiness just so others wouldn't stare. After a few seconds, however, both boy and girl gave up. They stood there laughing, relieved and happy and safe and free, until they'd run out of breath and their sides hurt.

Paula was the first to recover her voice. "Come on," she said, looking up at the escalators. "Let's get what you came here for."

"Eventually," said Ness. "We can window shop for a bit on the way up there, right? Maybe with some fries. Do you want some fries, Paula?"

"I remember their croissants tasted really good."

"Let's get a whole picnic lunch! Why not, right?"

"Yeah. Why not?"

They took their time. They bought food and ate it in the food court, making a mess out of the condiments in the bargain. They looked around at all the different clothes on the racks, holding them up to their bodies for the other to inspect and comment on. They were then politely asked to leave the clothing section when Ness' joking consideration of a pink dress like Paula's for himself made them both nearly laugh themselves sick.

They played at the arcade games scattered around, where Ness beat out Paula at the dancing game and Paula beat Ness' high score at Whack-a-Fobby. They ate some more, and covertly tossed a baseball from the sporting goods section back and forth for a while. They took pictures in the photo booth together, making all the funny faces they could think of before finally just settling down, their arms around one another, and smiling.

Finally, long after Paula had forgotten her fear, after she'd even forgotten that they'd originally come in here to buy something in the first place, Ness suddenly drew her over to one of the check out counters. "Aha! Here we are!"

"We are?" Paula asked, surprised. It took her a second to remember what he was talking about.

"Yeah." Ness nodded, beaming. "Close your eyes."

"…why?"

"Because I don't want you to see what I'm buying yet. Come on, please? It's a surprise!" He clasped his hands before him in a gesture of pleading that was slightly ruined by the wink.

Paula closed her eyes and strained her ears for any sign of what was going on. Frustratingly enough, she heard nothing except some muttering between Ness and the cashier, and some other sounds – the rustling of paper, the clicking of a cash register, and movement.

It probably didn't take very long at all, but it felt like it took forever before Ness said excitedly: "Okay! Open your eyes!"

Paula opened her eyes, and found herself looking into two black button ones. After a moment of surprise incomprehension, she realized fully what she was looking at.

Ness was holding out a teddy bear. " 'Hello, Paula'!" he said, his voice a ridiculous falsetto, giving the bear a little shake. "'I want to be your friend'!"

Stunned, more than a little confused, knowing that there was something here she wasn't getting, Paula took the teddy bear. Almost reflexively, she shifted it to cradle the toy in her arms. "Ness…thank you."

"It's to replace the old one," Ness said, scratching his head in a gesture of embarrassment. "You know? The one you had when those Happy Happy guys captured you? It…kind of got ruined, along the way. Man, there was just something about those moles and those zombies."

"I remember." She'd been torn between sadness to lose her beloved toy, and gratitude that every swipe that scored its cloth body hadn't hit her instead. That simple stuffed animal had saved her life more times than she wanted to think about.

Eventually, after they'd been kidnapped in Threed, she'd realized it was beyond saving, and left it behind in the cave where they'd been held. And she'd…moved on. There had been things to do, places to go, and a world to save.

She'd thought it just meant she was growing up, but suddenly, holding this new bear in her arms again, it felt like she'd been missing something ever since, and she'd just managed to ignore it.

"So I started thinking, while we were fighting. When I heard you praying. I thought to myself, 'If we win…the world will be okay again. If we win, kids can go for a walk and play outside without getting attacked by crazy dogs or crows or aliens. If we win, we don't have to be heroes anymore. We can just be us. We can just hang out at the beach, or go to concerts, or ride bikes, or carry around teddy bears', and…yeah. I think I was a little loopy, by that point. But I remembered it, after, and I thought of you, and how long it's been, and…Paula?" Ness leaned down enough to peer up into her face, and his eyes immediately went wide with alarm. "W-Woah, hey! Why are you crying? Are you okay? I'm sorry, I guess I didn't think, I didn't mean to…"

Paula threw her arms around him and laughed as she sobbed. Everything – all the days, all the miles, all the monsters, all the people – poured out of her in a rush as tears and hiccupping laughter as she hugged the teddy bear and hugged Ness. She just couldn't hold inside everything she was feeling anymore.

But it felt good to let it out. It felt good to look back, and realize that not only was it all over, but that the rest of her life could finally begin.

Ness hugged her back, and even if he didn't cry, even if she'd never seen him cry, she knew what all of this meant to him, too.

Paula felt she could have happily lived that one single moment forever. Eventually, however, they pulled apart. Paula, sniffling, pulled her hand away to wipe at her eyes.

"So…I guess you like it?" Ness asked. Paula looked up and saw that he was blushing, and that his eyes weren't entirely dry, either. She couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of him.

"I love it, Ness. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Paula. I mean, after everything…it's the least I could do. You've been such a good friend."

"So have you, Ness. But…there is one more thing you can do for me."

He looked up at her, startled. But one look at her face, and he understood. Ness smiled faintly, and nodded.

"Want me to walk you home?"

She offered her free hand. He took it. "More than anything."

Of course, that wasn't the end of it. By the time they'd crossed the bridge out of Fourside, wet towels wrapped around their necks, they'd already made plans for Paula to come to Ness' birthday party, and maybe go to the circus together with Jeff next month.

After all, just because this adventure had ended didn't mean they couldn't look for more together.


End file.
